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. 2017 Jan;8(1):101-107.
doi: 10.1111/jdi.12541. Epub 2016 Jul 3.

High neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness in type 2 diabetes

Xueqin Li  1 , Jun Shen  2 , Zhenghong Lu  1 , Min Chen  1 , Xiaozheng Fang  1 , Gongcheng Wang  3
Affiliations

High neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness in type 2 diabetes

Xueqin Li et al. J Diabetes Investig. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Aims/introduction: Emerging evidence suggests that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a novel potential marker of inflammatory responses. The objective was to evaluate the association between NLR and carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) in type 2 diabetes.

Materials and methods: We carried out a case-control study involving 320 patients with type 2 diabetes, and 250 age-, sex- and body mass index-matched healthy controls who all underwent carotid ultrasonography and took a blood examination. We divided the diabetes patients into two groups according to cIMT: 188 diabetes patients with high cIMT and 132 diabetes patients with low cIMT, and compared baseline characteristics and NLR between the two groups and healthy controls.

Results: The mean NLR was significantly higher in the group of diabetes patients with high cIMT than the group of diabetes patients with low cIMT, who in turn showed a significantly higher NLR compared with control participants. Logistic regression analysis showed that the NLR was an independent risk factor for diabetes patients with high cIMT (odds ratio 140.89, 95% CI 1.71-11615.30, P = 0.028). Based on the receiver operating characteristic curve, use of the NLR as an indicator for diabetes patients with high cIMT diagnosis was projected to be 3.16, and yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 36.2% and 93.2%, respectively, with an area under the curve of 0.606 (95% CI 0.544-0.667).

Conclusions: High NLR might be a potential biomarker for the increased cIMT in type 2 diabetes patients. Future studies are required to validate our findings.

Keywords: Carotid artery intima-media thickness; Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio; Type 2 diabetes.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis for neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio. The ROC curve analysis for neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio showed neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio as a predictor of the severity of carotid intima media thickness.
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